Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series about how parents can learn some important life lessons from their kids.

If you want to live your best life, theres no shortage of social media gurus, self-help books or life advice memes. I should know, as one look at my Audible and Kindle library will reveal Im a bit of a self-help junkie. Amazon has even stopped recommending new self-help books and is starting to recommend I just get help.

Its not that Im a hot mess, per se; its just that Im obsessed with the pursuit of joy. And Ive learned its a choice, not a result. So I gobble up everything I can about taking responsibility for my life and learning how to be disciplined enough to make the right choices.

But Im starting to think the best education I can get on the topic isnt in a book, but in the child with a runny nose currently begging me to catch her boogers.

Ive learned three huge life lessons by simply observing my girls. Theres actually more than three, but my editor reminded me this was a column, not a book. So Ill break each lesson down into a short series.

The first lesson Ive learned is this: Love what is, rather than wanting what isnt.

For example, if one finds themselves insecure with low self-esteem, just watch a child catch a glimpse of themselves in the mirror. Quick, find a pen! Youll want to take notes.

If there's one thing I know about my girls, it's that when they look in the mirror, they like what they see. Girlfriend's hair will be all matted up in the back like a neglected poodle, yet when she sees her reflection, she sees a rock star. A rock star who enjoys wearing her pink lip gloss a full inch off the lip, mind you. Thats how she rolls and she rolls good.

She grins, poses, prances and spins. She even gets inspired to pretend shes Elsa. I mean, whos gonna stop her?

Now, compare this to her own mothers reaction to her reflection. There are days when I completely avoid eye contact with my mirror, let alone light up like Lady Gagas in my house.

Children give us a glimpse of how its supposed to be. Their innocence shows us a beautiful side of our inherent humanness that, for so many of us, eventually gets soiled with pain. But the truth is still there, buried under our learned and experienced baggage. Children dont see imperfections because they arent aware they even exist. Theres no comparison; they delight in who they are. They simply celebrate what they have and shake what the good Lord gave em. Hair isnt too red, too brown, too straight or too curly. Eyes arent too big or too small or wide or narrow. They see themselves and think, Wow, here I am! And I dig it!

I wonder if I could learn to see through this lens of loving what is rather than wanting what isnt. Is it even possible, with all of our cultural programming? All the hurts, baggage and traumas that took our eyes away from the beauty thats there and started searching endlessly for what we wish was there instead?

I dont know, but I think Id like to try.

As a naturally ambitious person, I cant tell you how blind Ive become to the incredible life thats around me while my eyes scan for more. For better. Always better. Its not a lesson in settling, Ive learned. Its a lesson in enjoying, while trying.

I mean, listen. I can make positive changes to my health fueled by loathing the way my thighs rub together, or fueled by deep wonder that I even have these amazing thighs to rub together in the first place.

Kids choose wonder. Why cant I?

I can. If I choose to. And the first step is learning to love what is, rather than wanting new thighs.

Anna Lind Thomas is a humor writer and mom to daughters Lucy and Poppy and English bulldog Bruno, wife to Rob Thomas and founder of HaHas for HooHas. She writes for momaha.com.

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Forget gurus. Learn how to live your best life from kids - Omaha World-Herald